World of Warships Supertest: French Tier IX cruiser Brest

Historical background

Brest (and with a strong R please you bunch of horny boys) is somewhat in a weird spot when it comes to historical background. Considering the secondary armament and the illogical superstructure, I would categorize it as a pure what-if from Wargaming. We are talking about a ship built around an armament from the mid/late 1930s but somehow, her superstructure is at best, straight from the late 1920s.

As I see it, it is an up-gunned version of the 17 500 tons battlecruiser design and fitted with 330 mm guns. However, I was reminded that there was a preliminary version of the Dunkerque-class that could roughly fit the general characteristics of Brest. The problem is that with the mess that are the French archives, we know very little about this specific preliminary design.

Just like Cherbourg, Brest features an all-forward main battery with some of the biggest guns you can find among cruisers. However, she suffers from a very long main battery reload time and one of the worst dispersions for a cruiser. Her secondary battery is quite extensive and with an improved dispersion similar to Massachusetts or Schlieffen.
Other than that, she is thinly protected for a battlecruiser, except for the main belt.
Finally, she is equipped with a Main Battery Reload Booster and a 20% Engine Boost.

Ship’s preview

Ship’s camouflage

The turrets aren’t supposed to be black. They are missing textures for some reason.

For the classic reminder, this is a ship in testing, anything can change so don’t look at her like she would already be released.

Modules

Hull	Engine	Gun Fire Control System	Main battery
Brest (A)	Propulsion: 100 000 HP	‎‎PCA n° 9 Mle 1	330 mm/50 Mle 1931 on a St.Chamond Mle 1932 mount
‎Brest (B)		‎‎PCA n° 9 Mle 2

STOCK SHIP

General Characteristics

Main Armament

2 x 4 330 mm/50 Mle 1931 on a St.Chamond Mle 1932 mount
Maximum Firing Range	16.560 km
Reloading Time	25.0 s
180 Degree Turn Time	36.0 s
Optimal firing angles at the front	0°
Optimal firing angles at the rear	38°
Sigma	1.80 sigma
Maximum Dispersion	187 m
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 330 mm HE OEA Mle 1935
Alpha Damage	4 800
Penetration capacity	55 mm
Explosion size	1.91
Fire chance	35 %
Projectile Speed	885 m/s
Air Drag	0.293
Projectile Mass	385.0 kg
Type of Projectile	AP – 330 mm AP OPfK Mle 1935
Alpha Damage	9 700
Projectile Speed	870 m/s
Air Drag	0.28
Projectile Mass	560.0 kg
Projectile Krupp	2 428
Projectile Detonator	0.033 s
Detonator threshold	55 mm
Ricochet Angles	45° – 60°

Secondary Armament

8 x 2 139 mm/50 Mle 1938 on an Mle 1938 mount
Maximum Firing Range	7.950 km
Reloading Time	7.0 s
Sigma	1.0 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 139 mm HE OEA Mle 1928
Alpha Damage	2 000
HE penetration	23 mm
Explosion Size	0.5
Chance to Cause Fire	10 %
Projectile Speed	840 m/s
Air Drag	0.234
Projectile Mass	40.2 kg

Anti-air Armament

Consumables

Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3	Slot 4	Slot 5
Damage Control Party Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 60 s	Defensive AA Fire Number of charges: 3 Work time: 40 s Cooldown: 80 s Damage from continuous DPS: +50% Damage from flak explosions: +300%	Fighter Number of charges: 3 Work time: 60 s Cooldown: 90 s Number of fighters: 4 Patrol radius: 3.0 km	Repair Party Number of charges: 3 Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 80 s HP regeneration speed: +0.5%/s Casemate damage regeneration: 50% Citadel damage regeneration: 33%	Main Battery Reload Booster Number of charges: 4 Work time: 15 s Cooldown: 80 s Effect: -50% Main battery reload time
	Hydroacoustic Search Number of charges: 3 Work time: 100 s Cooldown: 120 s Torpedo spotting range: 3.5 km Ship spotting range: 5.0 km	Engine Boost Number of charges: 3 Work time: 180 s Cooldown: 90 s Speed bonus: +20%

FULLY UPGRADED SHIP

General Characteristics

Main Armament

2 x 4 330 mm/50 Mle 1931 on a St.Chamond Mle 1932 mount
Maximum Firing Range	18.216 km
Reloading Time	25.0 s
180 Degree Turn Time	36.0 s
Optimal firing angles at the front	0°
Optimal firing angles at the rear	38°
Sigma	1.80 sigma
Maximum Dispersion	201 m
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 330 mm HE OEA Mle 1935
Alpha Damage	4 800
Penetration capacity	55 mm
Explosion size	1.91
Fire chance	35 %
Projectile Speed	885 m/s
Air Drag	0.293
Projectile Mass	385.0 kg
Type of Projectile	AP – 330 mm AP OPfK Mle 1935
Alpha Damage	9 700
Projectile Speed	870 m/s
Air Drag	0.28
Projectile Mass	560.0 kg
Projectile Krupp	2 428
Projectile Detonator	0.033 s
Detonator threshold	55 mm
Ricochet Angles	45° – 60°

Secondary Armament

8 x 2 139 mm/50 Mle 1938 on an Mle 1938 mount
Maximum Firing Range	7.950 km
Reloading Time	7.0 s
Sigma	1.0 sigma
Shells
Type of Projectile	HE – 139 mm HE OEA Mle 1928
Alpha Damage	2 000
HE penetration	23 mm
Explosion Size	0.5
Chance to Cause Fire	10 %
Projectile Speed	840 m/s
Air Drag	0.234
Projectile Mass	40.2 kg

Anti-air Armament

Consumables

Slot 1	Slot 2	Slot 3	Slot 4	Slot 5
Damage Control Party Work time: 5 s Cooldown: 60 s	Defensive AA Fire Number of charges: 3 Work time: 40 s Cooldown: 80 s Damage from continuous DPS: +50% Damage from flak explosions: +300%	Fighter Number of charges: 3 Work time: 60 s Cooldown: 90 s Number of fighters: 4 Patrol radius: 3.0 km	Repair Party Number of charges: 3 Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 80 s HP regeneration speed: +0.5%/s Casemate damage regeneration: 50% Citadel damage regeneration: 33%	Main Battery Reload Booster Number of charges: 4 Work time: 15 s Cooldown: 80 s Effect: -50% Main battery reload time
	Hydroacoustic Search Number of charges: 3 Work time: 100 s Cooldown: 120 s Torpedo spotting range: 3.5 km Ship spotting range: 5.0 km	Engine Boost Number of charges: 3 Work time: 180 s Cooldown: 90 s Speed bonus: +20%

The Armor

External armor protection:

Front and rear armor protection of the middle section:

Turtleback:

Citadel armor protection:

Turrets armor protection:

Hidden main armor deck:

Hidden armor protection inside the stern:

Personal Opinion

When it comes to Brest, I’m a bit more concerned than with Cherbourg. While she gets much stronger guns, the reload time remains excessively long, combined with the poor dispersion for a cruiser. Also, the turret traverse is worse and here, we have a big problem. Considering the sluggish turret traverse, especially with Main Battery Modification 3, the turrets won’t be able to stay on target when turning the ship. On Henri IV, you already have this issue without the improved Grease the Gears and Henri has a far worse turning radius than Brest.

For the rest, the armor protection remains suboptimal for a ship of this size and when the engine boost isn’t active, it’s the slowest cruiser of her tier.

In the end, despite having big guns, there are a lot of things that will lead to this ship dragging behind the rest of the usual damage-oriented roaming cruisers.

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